Monthly Archives: November 2014

Okay, so I’m going to try something really crazy and something I probably should have put a LOT more planning into, but what the hell—I’m going to try it anyway!

I want to give you all a present this Season. And I mean EVERYONE.

I thought about doing more holiday cards, but this is kind of the next step up, so I hope this will excuse my lack of mail this year, because ALL of my effort is going to go into this.

Fingers crossed everyone and wish me the best. This is a project that was 12 years in the dreaming, that I’m FINALLY going to do. I’m so freaking excited! It launches December 1st and will keep right on rolling until the 25th so be sure to check in every day!

This morning someone posted this on my wall: it’s an article from Revolva’s blog, where the contortionist was contacted by Oprah’s people to perform as a side act for the “Oprah’s The Life You Want Weekend” that would draw people from all over the country with its $99-$999 tickets. Only one caveat… they didn’t want to pay her. You can read the whole account here.

A few people commented that Revolva’s response was just a temper tantrum—a beat-scene avant garde complaining when the honor of performing for Oprah should have been enough. That this could have been a huge opportunity for her. That she was lucky to be contacted with such a huge queue of people dying to get in. That this article was simply because she felt slighted.

I saw red for a moment and then in a frenzy of rage-fueled justice I wrote this in reaction to the people who took Oprah’s side.

Revolva’s not “feeling slighted” by Oprah’s company and she makes a good point. This is about a billionaire empire that is trying to stiff a hardworking woman.

Did her booking agent get paid? Yes. Did the venue get paid? Yes. Did the roadies, the techies, the caterers, the marketers, the transport, the hair, the makeup, the wardrobe, and everyone else it took to make that show get paid? Would the show be the same if there was no one to light the stages, or put them up, or to coordinate everything? Of course not ! They’re valuable people.

So, don’t you think the people on those stages deserve the same professional courtesy as a roadie or a techie? Doesn’t she deserve to be able to pay her rent and buy food like everyone else?

She wasn’t “slighted” by OprahCorp. A billionaire wanted services from her and thought that her services were less important than her hair and makeup. That she was less important than the people who light the stage. That she was worthless, or at the most only worth the toll for the bay bridge.

That’s what it’s like to be an artist today. We’re always supposed to be grateful to be chosen. We’re supposed to feel lucky that we’re gifted. We’re supposed to share our gift with the world… only we’re not allowed to ask for money for it. The “glory” is supposed to be enough.

It’s been almost 2 weeks now since I started on this year’s NaNoWriMo. I’m busy working on a prequel to the Linus Saga, in which we get to meet young(er) Linus as he meets Deirdre for the first time. I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo’s since ’08 and it’s consistently how I get most of my writing work done.

But I get distracted, hell everyone does, but my worst foible is research. I LOVE research. I’m an absolute Hermione when it comes to getting all the facts and trying to magick up my own rules for my world. It’s led me down a few rabbit holes like the article hole, the Wikipedia hole, and the ever dreaded Elven Dictionary hole (although that one’s probably just me.)

Case in point, today I have spent an hour trying to research poop. That’s right. POOP.

I need to know how Dragons poop. Do they have pellets like raptors? Do they grind things up with gastroliths or maybe their bodies make their own calculi? Do their bodies do something incredible with the parts they can’t digest like fossilize them or do they incinerate the their waste in their own furnaces? How does that work?

This doesn’t exist apparently.

Will all of this make my book all that better? Who can say? Who all out there is interested in how Dragons poop? If only one person is nodding right now, then congratulations. You’re the reason I’m looking up bezoars and mineralization. I’m doing this for you.

Okay, I got to get back to it now. I’m about 200 words away from hitting 20,000. Good luck to everyone else out there doing this! And good luck staying out of the rabbit holes!

Today was a pretty funny kind of day, so I thought it deserved a post with my own interpretation. Today there was no school because it’s voting day, so I decided to bite the bullet and take the kids to the minute-clinic to get flu-shots done. Now, those of you with kids know that this is not something you plan out loud. If you tell your kids in advance that they’re getting shots they tend to spend every hour and sleepless night up to then. This requires you to be more (ahem) covert about your intentions.

So this morning came the announcement,

HEY KIDS! Get in the van! Mom’s gonna go vote, we’re going to run an errand *cough*, and then we’re getting self-serve frozen yogurt!

So we pile into the van and on the way to the clinic, I drop the bomb. Guess what, guys? You’re going to have to EARN it. Panic ensues, but it’s too late. We’re already down the road. Thank God for child locks.

NOPE. (property of Warner Brothers)

Now, I do know that the flu vaccine comes in a nasal spray, but I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, so I kept mum on it. When I got to the pharmacy I did ask about the nose spray. The lady behind the counter said, “Yes, but we only have ONE.”

I entertain the notion of letting one kid have a nose spray and the other a needle for a split second. It played out pretty much like the ending of The Good Son.

Yeah, never mind. (property of 20th Century Fox)

“No, We’ll all take the needle, thanks.”

So a few pinches and a few tears later, we’re out and eating frozen yogurt while showing off our battle scars.

I can’t say the kids feel like I was entirely fair to them, but that’s life. It’s a motto I keep repeating to them, courtesy of one of our favorite movies, Labyrinth. That one moment when Hoggle wails Sarah’s frequent lament, “IT’S NOT FAIR!” And she counters…

…BUT THAT’S THE WAY IT IS. (Property of Tri-Star films)

Life isn’t fair, and it’s not going to be. But that being said, just because things are unpleasant doesn’t mean that it’s not for a good reason. And like The Doctor says:

As hard as it was to keep up with this challenge, I’m a little sorry to see Inktober go. It’s made me hone my skills, challenge my abilities, discipline myself, and put my neck out a little as I delved into what I wanted to do, what I hoped to do, and what I never dreamed of doing.

The latter is my final farewell piece. The rough blocking for this had been penciled on my sketchbook for over a year, and I’ve never had the courage to finish the pencils and ink it. I’m a little nervous about how it came out, but I’m proud of myself for trying. Here it is, Mickey Mouse in… DRACULA

MICKEY MOUSE in DRACULA by Monica Marier, Fan piece only, not for sale.

This brain child came out a while ago while I was reading Dracula and for some reason Van Helsing (who up to now was always Mel Brooks in my head) kept sounding like Ludwig Von Drake. It wouldn’t stop, either, the whole time my head kept ringing with voice of the adorable duck professor (Don’t cha know).

My thoughts began to spiral out of control as a larger cast of characters began to build in my head in a Rated G version of the classic monster movie: Micky and Minnie as the Harkers, Donald and Daisy as Arthur and the unfortunate Lucy. Then Goofy and Pete cast themselves as Doctor Seward and QUincy Morris respectively. I even finally got around to a Renfield (Mr. Toad). But Dracula refused to be cast. He was just… Dracula… a cartoon version of the dark Bela Lugosi, or else in shadow like some Ghost of Christmas Future. Elegant and otherworldly and utterly not of the friendly world of Mickey Mouse.

So, that concludes this year’s Inktober. I’ll definitely do this again next year! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Good luck to all the nanowrimo people tomorrow as we line up for the starting pistol.